Daughter of Swords is the solo project of North Carolina singer-songwriter Alex Sauser-Monnig (they/she), who has also released music with bands Mountain Man and The A’s. Their solo debut, Dawnbreaker, was a hushed folk record released in 2019; in the years since, Sauser-Monnig found a new understanding of self, personally and musically. Written across the last several years, Daughter of Swords music has grown thornier, an unpredictable and knotty tangle of technicolor synths, heady guitar, bubbling rhythms, a sheen enveloping songs about raw human intensity writ large – crushes, desire, anger, alienation, the horrors of late-stage capitalism, the apocalyptic end it seems we’re all hurtling toward. There’s a sharp cerebral tension between the stories at the core of her songs and the electrifying, playful buoyancy of the sound, the wink with which Sauser-Monnig can deliver a withering observation. “Alone Together” is the first release from that fresh chapter of exploration and liberation, from a kinetic collection of new work. Written from the POV of someone freshly single and alone and building a new sense of identity, “Alone Together” follows that confident new sense of self and emotional protection quickly crumbles under a physical need for sex, connection, and closeness. The song is built out by Sauser-Monnig’s longtime friends/collaborators Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes), Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso, Made of Oak), and TJ Maiani (Weyes Blood and Neneh Cherry).